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First County Visit:	Tuesday 22nd April 1980
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Halifax Town 1 – 3 Stockport County
Attendance:	1,233
Away Trip:	17
Away Day:	27
County Line-up	1 David Lawson; 2 John Rutter; 3 Steve Sherlock; 4 Andy Thorpe; 5 Tommy Sword; 6 Steve Uzelac; 7 Oshor Williams; 8 Les Bradd; 9 Eddie Prudham; 10 Chris Galvin; 11 David Booth
Scorers:	David Booth; Tommy Sword (pen); Les Bradd
Manager:	Jimmy McGuigan
County Visits:	13

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FAKE NEWS DASHES PROMOTION CELEBRATION

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Getting into what became regular trips around the habitual dwellers of the old 4^th Division had seen return trips to Port Vale, Wigan, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Hereford and Crewe.

This was the first opportunity to have a look at The Shay.  An immediate reflection, as I sit down to craft this chapter, is that it has been a regular haunt.  After all, Halifax seem to have been fellow travellers along the same paths that County have trod. More detailed research has left me almost astounded, (writing this in December 2016), that it is now nigh on 27 years since I’ve wandered down the slope to what can only be described as venerable turnstile arrangements; paid the dues required and entered what I regard as a unique arena, a throwback to the mists of time. 

Things have changed now, evidenced from seeing the Shaymen on telly a couple of times, but I won’t see this for a month or so now.  The Hatters will visit Halifax in January 2017 – the first meeting of the Clubs in a competitive fixture since 5^th May 1990 – a game on which I will reflect more anon.

So why the huge time gap in fixtures.  I missed the game in 1990/91 for some long forgotten reason – at the end of that campaign County were promoted, not to return to the football league basement until 2005.  That precluded any kind of league encounter as Halifax never looked like achieving any kind of elevation, indeed maybe never even aspired to it. They spent a mere handful of seasons in the Football League, dropping down to the Conference in 1993, and despite a brief return in 1998, they found themselves out, mired in financial problems and eventually ended up having to reform as FC Halifax Town in 2008, which meant a restart lower down in the hierarchy in the Northern Premier League Division 1 North.  So without any cup draws bringing the Clubs together The Shay is a distant memory now.

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I always liked going there.  Not too far, with the M62 providing access within 45 minutes from home.   I described the Shay as unique.  Perhaps an overstatement but certainly it had a lot of unique features.  Always entering the ground from the town centre end, passage through the turnstiles brought on a vista of the pitch seemingly in a valley, far away. 

Surrounded by a speedway track, for it was also home to the Halifax Dukes, the actual playing area seemed tiny – indeed it was vying with the long departed Eastville, (which I never saw) and the Vetch Field, (which I did), as the smallest surface in the League .  The choice of viewing was a quick walk to the left, onto an area of terracing, with only the centre section being afforded the luxury of concreted steps. 

The rest of what was known as the Trinity Garage End, was as Simon Inglis described it, back in 1983, “… ash covered with patches of grass and weeds, punctuated here and there by a few crush barriers”.  Perhaps the wrong adjective used there, because the small band of patrons drawn to the Shay were never sufficient to cause any kind of crush.  It always struck me as on the dangerous side as well.  A bit of rain and it quickly became a slippery slope, one definitely to be avoided, especially given the paucity of cover, which amounted to little more than a lean to at the back of the terrace.

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So the vantage point of choice was generally what was grandiosely termed the Main Stand, but was also known as the Skircoat Stand.  It seemed a bit a misnomer, as the changing rooms and other activities generally associated with that title were housed opposite behind the Patrons Stand, (no more than a lean to with seats plonked on an uneven surface), so that was far from a grand affair as well!. 

The Main Stand looked good on paper with a provenance stretching back to the early 1920’s when it was purchased from Manchester City where it had stood since the early years of the 20^th century.  It still stands at The Shay today having serviced fans for getting on for 120 years.  Inside it was dark and gloomy, with a motley collection of bench seats, and other ad hoc arrangements roughly bolted onto the base.  Not the most comfortable of places but one from which I watched that epic encounter in 1990.

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5^th May 1990 was a gloriously sunny early summer day. The Hatters made the trip “over t’hill” knowing that a win, (and a failure of Southend to win at Peterborough), would give them an automatic promotion spot and a return to Division 3 which they had left 20 years previously.  The intervening years had seen 4 successful applications for re-election in the days prior to automatic relegation and generally for most of the other seasons a lower table placing.  Promotion, and success, was something that a generation of County fans had missed out on.  It certainly dragged a lot of County support out the woodwork.  A crowd of 4,744 gathered, and it’s a fair bet that well over 3,500 of those had made the journey.  There was little in it for Halifax.  They ended up next to bottom, but safety had been assured a week or so before this encounter despite Colchester picking up points.  It was only 1 up and 1 down back then so the Halifax faithful had little to attract them to the game.

The encounter didn’t start off well.  Neil Matthews, who within 12 months would play a fundamental role for County at the tail end of the 1990/91 season, rifled the Shaymen in front, and the gloom amongst the County fans was further deepened as news came through of a 2 goal Southend lead at half time.  The play offs beckoned for the Hatters.  With quarter of an hour left, and having had a blatant penalty turned down, Chris Beaumont brought County level, and within minutes sub Ian McInerney cut in from the right wing and whipped the ball past Brown in the home goal.  Cue delirium, but the more level headed knew that events at London Road were crucial.  With referee Hills’ final whistle a pitch invasion ensued, and news was awaited from Peterborough.

In a cruel twist of fate what would today be described as the “dissemination of fake news” some clown sent round a rumour that the Posh had levelled things 140 miles south.  Promotion was celebrated, but only momentarily.  This more prepared souls who had equipped themselves with a transistor put a huge, nay massive, dampener on things, as James Alexander Gordon, or whoever was fronting Sports Report that day brought grim tidings.  I reflect now as mobile technology is at the forefront of society, just how much its availability back then would have saved so much suffering! 

Ecstasy turned to agony as the prospects of an open topped bus parade down Wellington Road in Stockport disappeared, Confirmation that Southend had held on for the win despite conceding one, left a “slough of despond” moment, followed by the realisation that the season was not yet over, but that a two leg play off against Chesterfield was on the cards.  And that didn’t end happily either…..

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Here’s a video covering the whole day.

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Drawing Shay based things to a close.  Yes I liked it, but never as a happy hunting ground.  12 trips in 10 years, and only three wins, with the last of those feeling like a huge loss anyway.  The very first did bring full points – a 3-1 win courtesy of Dave Booth, the regulation Tommy Sword penalty and Les Bradd, (of Barnsley hat-trick fame).  Curiously only 10 days later the campaign was brought down at EP with the home game against Halifax. 

Earlier that day Eddie Prudham, who at that point had a reasonable record in a struggling County outfit of 21 goals in 86 games, had been told he was surplus to requirements and needed to look for a new Club for the following season, and as an aside  would still need to turn out that evening.  I suppose questions of commitment on behalf of the player might have been raised. Prudham on the other hand rose to the occasion and sticking the proverbial and metaphorical two fingers at those who had made the decision, helped himself to a hat-trick, giving the Hatters a 4-1 win to take into the off season.

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THE SHAY IN 1987

(Photographs courtesy of Simon Denton)

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A gallery of photographs of the Shay taken on 21st March 1987 when the Shaymen faced Torquay. My grateful thanks to Simon Denton for permission to use them. They show perfectly the ground that I first visited in 1980. The slope to the visitors turnstiles; the speedway track, and bottom right the Skircoat Stand – the far end of which was our ‘home’ on that fateful day in 1990.

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There should also be the reflection that in mid-September 1986 I witnessed a victory there. Nothing special about that you might suggest. But it was a unique occasion. By the time of the game, the 6th of the League campaign, we had garnered the sum total of a single point, and more to boot, had hit the target only once as well. County fans were already well aware that the appointment of Jimmy Melia was a disaster. That night at the Shay goals from Andy Hodkinson and Ronnie Glavin secured winning points. It was to be the only League win in his mercifully brief management at EP. I can say that I was there!! There is far more about his tenure on the page Home Games: 1986

So in another months time it’ll be a return trip, 27 years later.  I might well break with my own rules in writing this tome which was to put the words down, with no subsequent sub-editing other than faithful friend the spell- checker.  After all a quarter of a century and more later, it might be worth reflecting on what I find.

December 2016

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Postscript – January 2017

A month has passed by and today, (Saturday 28^th January 2017) it has been that return trip to the Shay 27 years on.  It was still that approach to the ground down a small slope, now mercifully tarmaced, and once inside the vista was still the same – the pitch seemingly in a valley.  But apart from that the place has certainly changed.  The speedway track, completely disappeared.  That treacherous bank, the Trinity Garage End, replaced by a fine covered terrace, which reaches to just behind the goal, rather than its predecessor, which had to leave room for the Dukes.  Aside from a few flags it was left unoccupied.  An almost identical construction at the Tramshed end, which today housed the home support.  Both terraced standing, as it should be.

I also know after the events of the last couple of weeks that I have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and start a course of chemotherapy prior to a stem cell transplant later in the year. What this will bring is in the lap of the gods. How much of an impact it will have in terms of my attendance is equally unknown, but I can’t see it doing anything other than curtailing it.

As of today County’s travails in non -league are two thirds of the way through the sixth season. In that time we’ve played 273 league, FA Cup and FA Trophy games. I’ve seen 270 of them. And unlike a fair few of my fellow supporters I’ve enjoyed the non-league experience. Not for the football particularly, but for the friendships, the away trips to unfamiliar places, and the far more relaxed atmosphere. Hopefully, if I do have to cut back, (and I already know that I will miss 3 months of the 2017/18 season), then it won’t be for too long!! Anyway here’s a few thoughts on how I found the revamped Shay.

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The Patrons Stand is now long gone and has been replaced by an impressive construction which clearly houses hospitality areas, and also provided a significantly greater number of seats, with what appeared to be a far better view than its predecessor.

The Skircoat Stand remains unchanged structurally, although it looks as though more than a spot of repair work has been done to the roof.  Inside, it’s still the same dark area, but with a wave of recognition to the new millennium the old wooden seating has been replaced by the more spectator friendly tip-up version.  It housed the County fans today.  Officially announced as 995 in number, this was clearly a significant understatement. 

The stand may be ancient, its superstructure now being over 100 years old, but it provided for a great spectator experience.  The Hatters faithful were in good voice, and the acoustics of the place meant that it generated a super atmosphere.  All in all, the return visit left me pleased with what I found.  A lot of modernisation, but still retaining its own character.  And from my own vantage point, not a sign of breeze block in the Skircoat Stand, still in service nearly a century after being moved from Hyde Road…..

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Tues	22/04/80	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	W	3	1	1,233	27
Sat	24/01/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	0	2	3,286	37
Fri	02/04/82	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	1	4	2,135	58
Fri	13/05/83	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	0	1	1,522	78
Fri	09/03/84	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	0	2	1,261	92
Tues	23/04/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	1	2	1,291	113
Fri	04/04/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	D	0	0	1,836	131
Fri	19/09/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	W	2	0	1,071	133
Fri	16/10/87	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	L	0	2	1,696	149
Sat	04/02/89	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	D	2	2	1,958	168
Tues	30/01/90	Leyland Daf Cup	Northern Quarter-final	Halifax Town	L	1	3	1,779	183
Sat	05/05/90 (Highlights)	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Halifax Town	W	2	1	4,744	190
Sat	28/01/17	Vanarama National League North	Tier 6	FC Halifax Town	D	0	0	2,925	811

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – THE OLD SHOWGROUND Next stop – VALLEY PARADE